For example, a recent Los Angeles Times article documented the damaging effects of implicit bias on women working in tech. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg wrote about the dangers of “speaking while female” in The New York Times. So while we may not be living in the Mad Men era, the cards can still feel stacked against women in the workplace.

Despite all this, I am optimistic. The more we talk, the more we share, then the more we can do to raise consciousness and create solutions. The driving forces holding up the glass ceiling are more nuanced than ever before, but we won’t be able to change issues of which we simply aren’t aware. Without awareness, women and men find themselves living in in a world where half the population is left out of the boardrooms and the C-Suite – and we can’t afford that. Smart companies already know this sobering fact and are working furiously to make changes. There will be challenges between discovering the problems and fixing them, but that is why we need to have this conversation.

Next, Serve Up Twenty-First Century Solutions

Below are four solutions to solve a few specific problems and improve the potential for women in business to get to the top:

FIX THE SALARY GAP

Learn How To Negotiate and Ask For What You Want:It has often been said that women “don’t ask” for what they want when it comes to salary or career advancement. Know your value, research the market and ask for what you want. Whether you are a woman or man, a manager is not going to hand out more money or more responsibility without a clearly-defined and well-researched “ask.”

DON’T MAKE WOMEN CHOOSE BETWEEN FAMILY AND WORK

Lead On Flex Time, Maternity & Paternity Leave:As YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki wrote in The Wall Street Journal, it is possible for private companies to support female (and male) leadership through flextime as well as paid maternity and paternity leave.

The United States may be one of the only developed countries in the world without mandated paid maternity leave, but that shouldn’t stop your company from finding ways to support women and families. While not every company can afford the same benefits as the behemoth YouTube, Wojcicki writes about how YouTube changed its policy and reaped the rewards. She notes: “When we increased paid maternity leave to 18 from 12 weeks in 2007, the rate at which new moms left Google fell by 50%.”

DON’T ISOLATE YOURSELF

Create A Peer Network And Help Others: In climbing the career ladder, it is good to know people at the top. But it also helps to build a peer network that can support you along the way. Call it your personal “board of advisors” or your “kitchen cabinet,” as one of my friends does.

This should be a trusted group of women and men on whom you call when trying to prepare for a big meeting at work, a job interview, or to practice negotiation tactics. If you invest in those around you and offer small acts of kindness – passing a resumé forward, giving free advice, helping prep for a job interview – it can make a difference. What you give is often what you get.

CLOSE THE AMBITION GAP

Ensure Women Are a Visible Part of Company Success and See a Path Forward: Corporate culture is hard to define, but we know the good from the bad. Companies that want women to fulfill their potential should ensure that women are visible in senior roles and have decision-making power to show other women that there is a path forward.

According to the Harvard Business Review, culture is important when it comes to closing the “ambition gap” and motivating young women to aggressively pursue the top roles. If we don’t want women to drop out of the workforce or lag behind, we need more companies that not only attract female talent, but know how to keep them and cultivate them over time.

Learn More from Top Businesswomen at SXSW

Interested in this topic? If you are going to SXSW 2015, join us for the panel on Tuesday, March 17 titled, “Lessons From The Trenches: Women In Business.” The panel will share personal success stories on negotiating tactics, talk about how to find support from women and men in the workplace, and brainstorm on how companies can ensure more women stay and don’t drop out of the workforce. Panelists will include Jen Nedeau (@JenNedeau), Bully Pulpit Interactive; Amanda Johnson (@DAmanDaTruth), Here Media; Caroline McCarthy (@Caro), TrueX ; and Jessica Randazza (@JessicaRandazza), The Danone Group.

Contributor/Publisher Agreement

This agreement is made on , between SharpHeels / SharpHeels Group LLC, 8127 Mesa Dr B206, Austin, TX 78759 ("publisher") and ("contributor") regarding the contribution ("the articles") for publication on SharpHeels.com.

The Contribution. The contributor shall submit articles, on a consistent basis, to the publisher based on the contributor's area of expertise. The articles shall be submitted on or before the agreed upon due date (Tracked by editorial calendar).

Editorial Copy. Article copy and tone should be designed to Educate, Motivate, and Captivate. All copy should be void of any direct self-promotion for the contributor's organization. Copy that includes the contributor and/or its products should only be included when it benefits the audience and not to the direct benefit of the contributor.

Changes. The publisher shall have the right to edit, revise, augment, re-title, and adapt all articles and to cause others to make such changes as the publisher may deem appropriate. The contributor shall be available to approve such changes.

Rights. Contributor grants to the Publisher an exclusive worldwide license to first publish, reproduce, display, distribute and use the Contribution in any media. The contributor retains ownership of all rights under copyright to the Contribution. If the contributor desires to publish the article on the contributor's website, the contributor is permitted, but must provide a link and reference to the original article on SharpHeels.com. Contributor shall not authorize any publication of the articles to additional parties except with the prior written consent of the publisher in each instance.

Images. The publisher may illustrate the articles with photographs or illustrations or both and contributor will, if supplying such photographs or illustrations by agreement, warrant their ownership and transfer needed rights and permissions to allow their publication. Publisher will provide images if not provided by the contributor.

Fact checking. Contributor will verify all facts in the articles, although the publisher shall have the right to check the article for accuracy.

Originality. Contributor warrants that the articles will be original, will not infringe on any copyright, invade any right of privacy, contain any libelous material, or infringe or violate any other right of any other person or entity.

Use of Name. Contributor, for publicity purposes, gives Publisher permission to use the Contributor's name, image, biography and likeness in all forms of media and in all manners in connection with the advertising and promotion of the Work and/or Contribution.

Promotion. Publisher will assume all costs associated with the publishing and promotion of the Contribution.

Compensation. There will be no financial compensation for contributor's posts. Publisher offers a platform to expand the contributor's reach for their specific expertise. Contributor's posts will be featured in SharpHeels newsletter , online and in Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.)

Confidential Information. The Contributor and his or her employees shall not, during the time of rendering services to the Publisher or thereafter, disclose to anyone other than authorized employees or designated persons of the Publisher, any information of a confidential nature, including but not limited to, information relating to: any such materials or intellectual property; any of the Publisher projects or programs; the technical, commercial or any other affairs of the Publisher; or, any confidential information which the Company has received from a third party.

Termination. Publisher and/or the Contributor may terminate this Agreement in the event the parties no longer benefit from the partnership or upon notice of a breach to the agreement.

This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Texas. The parties agree that a signature (electronic or in writing) on this Agreement shall be considered legally binding and executable.